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10 Best Apocalypse Movies of All Time

Shortly after being tasked to put together a list of the 10 best apocalypse movies, I realized that it wasn’t going to be as easy as I first thought. This being Guns & Ammo, firearms had to be if not an important part of the plot, at least appear in the movie. Upon review, it was interesting to me how many of the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic movies I tracked down hardly featured guns in them—I guess ammo doesn’t grow on trees.

The task soon became eliminating those great movies which didn’t qualify, either being pre-apocalyptic—the Terminator series, Soylent Green—those without any guns at all—On The Beach, The Hunger Games, The Blood of Heroes—simply dystopian movies—Minority Report, Blade Runner—or TV series—The Walking Dead, Jericho, Battlestar Galactica, and Falling Skies.

What’s left is a number of new and classic movies—some hugely successful, and some you might not have ever heard of.

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I’m not alone in liking this fun, quirky movie from the '80s—Roger Ebert did too. When a comet passes by Earth, anybody not under a metal roof dies and collapses into a pile of orange dust. Two teenage girls—whose father is an absentee and presumed dead Green Beret—find themselves being hunted by a group of survivalists who were partly exposed to the comet, and hoping to develop a cure using the girls’ blood. Realistic? Heck no. Fun? Yep. How often do you see a teenage girl working a MAC-10? It also features one of my favorite lines ever spoken by a high school girl: “Daddy would’ve gotten us Uzis.”

The catastrophe which resulted in everybody having to live in a city inside a dome is never detailed in this movie, but the city founders developed an efficient way to prevent overcrowding—nobody is allowed to live past the age of 30. Starring all sorts of young and very pretty people (Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Farrah Fawcett), the story follows York’s character, Logan 5, as he tries to locate "Sanctuary." Logan 5 is employed as a
Sandman, a police officer who quite often has to track down people who don’t wish to die and "put them to sleep." Logan's Run won an Academy Award for its special effects, and part of those involved the cool handguns the Sandmen carried. Spitting out green flame from a four-slot comp, it even sounded cool. While very dated in appearance, this is another fun movie from the end of the world.

While some people may think of this as a zombie movie, the attacking hordes in this action thriller have in fact been infected with the "Rage" virus, released by well-meaning animal rights activists—I love that the end of the world was caused by liberal whack-jobs. Think of them as angry zombies who can run really fast. As it takes place in Britain, guns are pretty scarce in the movie until the military shows up with their Enfield bullpups, and they don’t make the situation much better. I’ve noticed director Danny Boyle’s movies—The Beach, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire—all seem to have a common theme: There’s a happy ending, but the characters have to go through absolute hell to get there.

The Road is a horrible movie. I don’t mean that it is badly done; rather, it very realistically depicts a world on the verge of extinction, filled with people willing to do anything to survive. Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy (No Country For Old Men), this is just the first movie in my list that will make you want to take a shower and/or hug your kids after viewing. It makes Schindler’s List seem upbeat. I honestly don’t recommend it because it is so rough—per IMDB, two of the characters in the movie are Cannibal and Baby Eater. Viggo Mortensen plays a father armed with a revolver trying to keep his son alive. As the movie takes place about 10 years after the world-ending event—not specifically mentioned in book or movie, but McCarthy said he always envisioned a huge asteroid like the kind that killed the dinosaurs—there’s no gas left for cars, and nobody believes Mortensen even has any ammo for the revolver he carries.

This is the second movie on this list that while I really liked it, it is so dark that I don’t know if I’ll ever watch it again. Children of Men is set in 2027, 20 years after the last human baby has been born. Scientists have been unable to find a cure for humanity’s worldwide infertility, and as a result people have lost all hope—Britain is wallowing in suicides, gang warfare, you name it. The scene in the abandoned grade school is just heartbreaking. Clive Owen's character is tasked with escorting a miraculously pregnant woman to safety outside of the country. His quest results in some very nice action sequences; at least one of which was filmed all in one take. Featuring British Army troops with Enfield bullpups, and gang members with full-auto weapons and pistols, the movie has some gunplay, but the most dangerous things in it are the people.

As a whole, this movie isn’t great, but it has so much great stuff in it—Rule No. 1: Cardio, Twinkies, the dueling banjo theme, Bill Murray—that it belongs on this list. In addition to having more than its share of zombie killing, it is also very funny, which is hard to find when it comes to end-of-the-world type movies. Shaun of the Dead was marketed as a comedy with zombies, but in fact it was a zombie movie with a little comedy, and Zombieland is a lot more entertaining, although I recommend both. You name the weapon, you can probably find it used in this movie. But it’s not about the guns; it’s about having a good time when you can. Most importantly, Rule No. 2: Double Tap.

There are probably people that are apoplectic that Night of the Living Dead doesn’t make my list, or that I’ve chosen the modern remake of this movie over George Romero’s original from 1978. Suck it up; this is my list, not yours. Night of the Living Dead hardly has any guns in it, and the original Dawn of the Dead had a budget of about $12. Plus, not only was the acting barely tolerable, they had junky pistols and fake AR-15s chambered in .22 LR. This new version of Dawn starring Ving Rhames again mostly takes place in a mall, but the zombies are fast, the scares are aplenty and the interplay with Andy, the clerk atop a nearby gun store, is great. I’m surprised there wasn’t a run on his inventory, but then again, he uses an M40 sniper rifle to pop celebrity look-alike zombies; in the short movie in the DVD Special Features, he also has an HK MP5, a SIG Sauer SSG 3000 and a Safari Arms .45.

This is only the middle of three movies based on Richard Matheson’s novella I Am Legend, starting with The Last Man on Earth (1964, Vincent Price) and ending with 2007’s I Am Legend starring Will Smith. While I like everything about Will Smith’s I Am Legend—except the fake-looking CG zombies—The Omega Man is the more classic film. While the villains in Matheson’s original story were technically vampires, the story is considered the first modern zombie story, and was the inspiration for George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Charlton Heston wanders around Los Angeles in this version, dispatching zombies with a plethora of guns, including a S&W M76 submachine gun, an M3 carbine—M1 carbine with infrared scope—and even a BAR, any one of which is way cooler than Will Smith’s Surefire-equipped M4.

Some people may be scratching their heads, wondering why The Matrix is on a list of apocalyptic movies, but think about it folks: Most of humanity exists as unconscious slaves being used as nothing more than living batteries for the robots who rule the real world, such as it is. This movie stands so far apart from most action movies, in both plot and cinematic style—the directors invented a new way to film to capture certain scenes—that it will probably be forever considered a classic. The only argument will be over which genre it belongs to. As far as weaponry goes, you’ll see everything from helicopter-mounted mini-guns on down, with a focus on full-auto weapons and Desert Eagles. Technically accurate gun handling? Ha! But we’ve all watched it again and again, wishing we were the ones who could open our eyes and say, "I know kung fu.”

I don’t think it’s possible to name a movie which better embraces the label “apocalyptic” than Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. If you’ve never seen the movie, or haven’t seen it in a long time, I highly recommend it. The film which made Mel Gibson a star is most well-known for a huge combat-filled car chase where the post-apocalyptic denizens of Australia fight over a school bus filled with gasoline drums. The only thing in shorter supply than gas is apparently ammo—and food is not far behind, given Max’s tendency to eat dog food. Better than the original Max Max and far better than Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, this is one of those iconic movies that spawned a hundred imitations and still stands the test of time.

The remake was so much better than the original. The original was just plain cheesy. I have nearly every George Romero Zombie movie made, and all of the remakes that I know of. I love the original “Night of the Living Dead”. A little trivia for those who like that kind of stuff, the news reporter in the original “Night of the Living Dead” was played by Bill Cardille. Bill Cardille was the host of the Saturday night late night double feature horror show called “Chiller Theater” on channel 11 (which before the big PA lottery scandal) was called WIIC out of Pittsburgh.

Dj

I disagree… sort of.
I think you are right about the first several minutes. The remake was pretty scary. I always find the ‘collapse of society’ part of zombie pictures to be the most frightening.
Beyond that, other than the ‘jay leno’ line, I found the remake to be a weaker movie in almost every respect.
BTW: If you also find the ‘collapse’ part of the story scary there is a good BBC series called ‘survivors’. It’s not a zombie show (global pandemic). It is sometimes great, sometimes weak , but pretty entertaining.

Lt_Scrounge

The production values on the remake were SOOOOO much better than the original. The original’s prop master must have had nearly zero knowledge on firearms. No swat team carries 22s and no police officer would carry a single action revolver when a store full of semi autos and double action revolvers was available.

Dj

The budgets were a magnitude or two larger on the remake.

If I remember correctly the original was made in the $100,000 range; and remember they were inventing the genre with the original dotd. It’s easy to re-imagine and extend a story someone else has invented.

As far as the weapons go, yeah you’re right on all counts, but I’m sure they got what they could get. The money was spent on pioneering practical makeup effects by Tom Savini (who plays Bubba Pasquale, the lead biker).

Lt_Scrounge

Tom Savini was in the remake, as well as Land of the Dead. He’s been in a lot of movies and no one even realizes that he’s a makeup artist. He was also in “From Dusk til Dawn” and the second “Lost Boys” movie.

Charles Gaillard

I assume that something in the rules prevented – oh, what’s the name of the Patrick Swayze movie- Russia attacked, the kids were Wolverines…but that’s one of the great ones.

Nramem

That was RED DAWN, an invasion/war movie, not apocalyptic.

http://www.facebook.com/pattersr Rick Patterson

Where is Red Dawn, I Am Legend, and The Book of Eli???

Nramem

I Am Legend is basically a remake of Omega Man.

http://www.facebook.com/robert.mccallum.754 Robert Mccallum

Resident Evil, Book of Eli, Escape from New York

veniceneon

Book of Eli should have been included. That’s an apocalyptic gunfest. I don’t know if I would include Red Dawn, it’s more of a war survival story. Terminator series would be good if Schwarzenegger wasn’t such a anti-gun putz. Thanks for putting in Omega Man, a Rod Serling-esque movie.

Way to go by putting The Omega Man on the list. I saw that film numerous times in the theater when it came out. I’m probably the only guy in the world that has that movie on Blu-ray. I wholeheartedly agree that The Omega Man was far superior to I am Legend. Even with the old cheesy villain characters, it was the superior film. Plus you just can’t go wrong with Charlton Heston stopping his convertible to blast away at some downtown Los Angeles office windows with a machine gun.

danielboone416@yahoo.com

The “Book of Eli” is the best post apocalypic movie EVER!!!! Some of the movies you list are TRASH!! Zombies – REALLY?!?!

gun movies

” The quiet earth” is another. I remember as a kid watching tv movie with a guy racing a darker sandy brown firefird car or something, around a city that was empty. I have never been able to find the movie. Probably early 70’s. Not sure if it was the last man on earth- or not? Will check some youtube vids for it.

Patrick Murtaugh

Eh, Escape from New York doesn’t fit either, more dystopian than post-apocalyptic. A Boy and His Dog was a good one

Josh

Should’ve included “The Day After” from the 80s.

http://www.facebook.com/theknightoflight Shawn Wesley Knight

The Snake Pliskin Escape series and The Book of Eli didn’t make this list??? Guns and Ammo fail!

Jim_Macklin

The Book of Eli movie Denzel Washington 2009

World Without End movie 1956

wildmanjeffsmith

logan’s run was great

denae

this is so refreshing, ive been looking for a list of top ten post-appo and everyone had the same goddamn movies! all of you who are complaining about how i am legand and the book of eli isnt in this, you all are clearly aware of these movies, and in this top ten and least this guy tried to be original in his choices. when i look for top ten, im looking for something new and good to watch NOT something ive seen over and over or something that the geneal public believes is good. i really appriciate this list.

Michael

Just to put it out there. The “zombies” in I am Legend are not zombies at all. They are simply humans who have been genetically altered by the effects of a virus. They are still living breathing creatures; albeit, with a taste for blood. If they are going to be classified as supernatural creatures, I believe, they more closely resemble vampires than zombies, as they, are intelligent, have human like emotions, have a general hierarchy, are burned more intensely by sunlight and as previously mentioned, have a taste for blood.

Malcolm

in the book i am legend, they are actually vampires. very clever observation.

Jeff Korhorn

Red Dawn & I Am Legend needs to definately be in there….maybe even the Book of Eli

Jeff Korhorn

And Terminator!

boomy

The Road wasn’t based on McCarthy’s “No Country for old Men”, it was based on McCarthy’s “The Road”. No Country for Old Men had its own separate thing.

squareWave

Logan’s Run is one of my favorite sci-fi films because it portrays a dystopia that thinks it’s an utopia — pretty on the mark. And Jenny Agutter is crazy hot in this movie.

http://www.huz6.com/ huz6

I used to watch this film and I found that it’s so attractive ! if you haven’t seen it, try to watch it one times!

Nramem

I think the scariest movies are the “28 Days” movies. The scary thing is the fact that they are NOT zombies, but people infected with the RAGE VIRUS which is most likely a mutated version of rabies. This is scary because it could actually happen. Where as zombies in the true sense could not exist.

Viruses are constantly mutating making this highly possible. The other difference is those with the Rage virus could be killed with any shot to the vitals, not just the head. Also they can truly run fast where as “true” zombies would not move fast due to the stiffening of the muscles.

On another note, I would like the authors here to post some new stories on the ZOMBIE BLOG. I’m tired of the nay sayers going out of their way to put down the Z blog. It’s fun to read the comments and it’s all about entertainment. If you don’t like it WHY IN THE HELL DO YOU CLICK ON IT ?!?!

For new story suggestions, how about zombie proofing you body with some sort of armor or duck tape, armoring your vehicle, protecting yourself from zombie blood spatter, etc, etc . . . come on GUNS AND AMMO, give us something new to read on the zombie blog !!!!!

Jamie

Lol, it could actually happen could it? Yeah it’s abpout a likely as the plot of ‘The Thing’ happening.

101nomad

I think ‘The Road’ was the only one I have not seen. Suspending reality is fun in small doses.